Ive done loads of brews now and up until a few months ago i used to be very efficient.
Ive found lately though that about 50% or more of my brews always end up way over the desired brew length and the gravity is always about 5-6 points under.
Obvioulsy i thought to myself im adding to much water but im very careful so im stumped to what im doign wrong. Today for instance ive done Whellers XXXB which should have given me 25ltrs @ 1049 but i ended up with over 30 ltrs @ !044?????
I get the odd brew bang on but more and more lately im over brewlength and under the desired gravity. Is there something im missing or is it simply a case of adding less water next time?
Am i missing something.
Re: Am i missing something.
Maybe the vigour of your boil is less due to the cold weather. Do you brew outside or in a cold garage?
-
Robdog
Re: Am i missing something.
Jim wrote:Maybe the vigour of your boil is less due to the cold weather. Do you brew outside or in a cold garage?
I brew indorrs Jim, i had thought of this and was wondering whether to maybe boil the whole 90 mins with both elements instead of just one. I have always been ok with one in the past though i just cant seem to work out what im doing wrong.
-
wetdog
Re: Am i missing something.
I had exactly the same problem a couple of months ago so the brew I did last week I extracted 32 litres into the boiler and gave it both elements all the way. instead of being a slave to the clock though I just let it boil until the volume was down to 26 litres which took about 75 minutes.
I'm not too hung up on 90 minute boils as I did a hobgoblin clone last year on a 60 minute boil and it was my clearest beer ever.
Jim may be right though, perhaps the elements become less efficient over time, they are after all only cheap kettle elements meant for bringing a litre or so of water to the boil then switching off
I'm not too hung up on 90 minute boils as I did a hobgoblin clone last year on a 60 minute boil and it was my clearest beer ever.
Jim may be right though, perhaps the elements become less efficient over time, they are after all only cheap kettle elements meant for bringing a litre or so of water to the boil then switching off
Last edited by wetdog on Tue Sep 29, 2009 7:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
boingy
Re: Am i missing something.
Just adjust for it and collect less wort from your next sparge.
-
Graham
Re: Am i missing something.
That is not bad efficiency, it's better than 80%. It is a case of too much water.
I do not understand why some people often recommend collecting more than the required volume and the boiling down to volume, particularly with, so called, batch sparging. It is far more sensible in my view to collect your desired final beer volume in the boiler, or perhaps a little more, so that you end up with less than your final volume in the fermenter. That way you can adjust by adding water to the fermenter. Either adjust to gravity and have a little more or a little less volume as it turns out to be, or adjust to volume and have a little stronger or weaker beer as it turns out to be.
The often quoted theory that boil volume affects hop extraction utilisation does not really hold water.
I do not understand why some people often recommend collecting more than the required volume and the boiling down to volume, particularly with, so called, batch sparging. It is far more sensible in my view to collect your desired final beer volume in the boiler, or perhaps a little more, so that you end up with less than your final volume in the fermenter. That way you can adjust by adding water to the fermenter. Either adjust to gravity and have a little more or a little less volume as it turns out to be, or adjust to volume and have a little stronger or weaker beer as it turns out to be.
The often quoted theory that boil volume affects hop extraction utilisation does not really hold water.